4.2.10 Setting Environment Variables

Environment variables can be set at the command prompt to affect
the current invocation of your command processor, or set
permanently to affect future invocations. To set a variable
permanently, you can set it in a startup file or by using the
interface provided by your system for this purpose. Consult the
documentation for your command interpreter for specific details.
Section 2.21, “Environment Variables”, lists all environment
variables that affect MySQL program operation.

To specify a value for an environment variable, use the syntax
appropriate for your command processor. For example, on Windows or
NetWare, you can set the USER variable to
specify your MySQL account name. To do so, use this syntax:

SET USER=your_name

The syntax on Unix depends on your shell. Suppose that you want to
specify the TCP/IP port number using the
MYSQL_TCP_PORT variable. Typical syntax (such
as for sh, bash,
zsh, and so on) is as follows:

MYSQL_TCP_PORT=3306
export MYSQL_TCP_PORT

The first command sets the variable, and the
export command exports the variable to the
shell environment so that its value becomes accessible to MySQL
and other processes.

For csh and tcsh, use
setenv to make the shell variable available to
the environment:

setenv MYSQL_TCP_PORT 3306

The commands to set environment variables can be executed at your
command prompt to take effect immediately, but the settings
persist only until you log out. To have the settings take effect
each time you log in, use the interface provided by your system or
place the appropriate command or commands in a startup file that
your command interpreter reads each time it starts.

On Windows, you can set environment variables using the System
Control Panel (under Advanced).

On Unix, typical shell startup files are
.bashrc or .bash_profile
for bash, or .tcshrc for
tcsh.

Suppose that your MySQL programs are installed in
/usr/local/mysql/bin and that you want to make
it easy to invoke these programs. To do this, set the value of the
PATH environment variable to include that
directory. For example, if your shell is bash,
add the following line to your .bashrc file:

PATH=${PATH}:/usr/local/mysql/bin

bash uses different startup files for login and
nonlogin shells, so you might want to add the setting to
.bashrc for login shells and to
.bash_profile for nonlogin shells to make
sure that PATH is set regardless.

If your shell is tcsh, add the following line
to your .tcshrc file:

setenv PATH ${PATH}:/usr/local/mysql/bin

If the appropriate startup file does not exist in your home
directory, create it with a text editor.

After modifying your PATH setting, open a new
console window on Windows or log in again on Unix so that the
setting goes into effect.